I get the worst Imposter Syndrome sometimes. I'm staring at the article I wrote that by all accounts is nearly ready for submission and all I can think is "This is crap. I may need to rewrite the whole thing."

It's okay, MH Rise, I'm already going to buy you. You don't have to convince me anymo-OH MY GOD HE'S SUCH A PRECIOUS CUTIE! <3

That's nice, Monster Hunter. Now, would you care to explain why the move "Axe: Elemental Roundslash" is not actually listed in the controls anywhere? Good lord, I'm literally an academic and I can't figure this thing out. Back to Bows and Hammers it is!

I finally set up my internet blocker at home, because it was clear I needed it to focus. Any blocked site now shows me this image instead. Also, notice how I'm here on Destructoid telling you about it....I'm still ironing out the kinks, okay?!

ALSO YOU GET AN OWL FRIEND! Hard sold.

It took me a second to realize it, but the doggo friend from Monster Hunter Rise is literally just Repede (Tales of Vesperia), isn't it? One of the demo builds even named it "Yuri"!

It turns out I'm waaaaay out of practice for Monster Hunter. Nearly had trouble with the easy demo quest! I will say that the demo doesn't explain the new mechanics very well, but I feel like they have a lot of potential to make the game more fun.

In the spirit of Dere's Lord of the Rings-based Wholesome Friday, here is Sir Ian McKellen getting his vaccine. "Next time I come, well no, six days after I next come I'm going to give them all a big hug - is that allowed?"

According to an Oral History piece published by Bloomberg today, during development of the original Xbox Microsoft reached out to acquire Nintendo. They got laughed out of the room.

I've been watching a bit of a Bugsnax Let's Play, and now I can't stop doing Bunger impressions. It's too good. Bunger bunger bunger bunger-bunger.

I'm not so sure I've watched Lord of the Rings this year, and I've got about 12 hours until midnight. I'm done with 2020 on Earth; I'm out.

I don't think I've ever spent as much on videogames as I did the past year. Then again, I'm missing out on some other expenses, and this is been an extremely "screw it" kind of year. The backlog is MASSIVE but the good news is that I only got burned once.

Here's a counter-recommendation for RiffRaff & friends: I am Dead. It's effectively a hidden object game, but you examine each item in an MRI-like manner. Lots of fun voyeuristic surprises to be found, like a guy hiding Crocs literally all over his house.

It's official, you guys: It's almost Christmas.

Finished Control, loved it. In terms of gameplay I was well and truly done with it, but I could read those documents and watch Darling for hours. Spoilers in the comments for my absolute favorite bit (endgame) that actually made me laugh out loud.

Lately I bought a few games from other stores than Steam, but those often don't support my Switch Pro Controller. Turns out, by using Steam's "add non-Steam game" function it instantly works perfectly! I feel like that shouldn't work, but it 100% does!

Sephiroth seems like a fairly standard fighter, but they did right by him nonetheless. Plus, a ton more FFVII music now! Plus plus, out today! (if you beat the special mode)

So Immortals: Fenyx Rising is already 33% off on at Ubisoft and at the Epic store it seems you can apply an extra €10 discount. I wasn't ready to jump at full price, but at effectively half-off that's more interesting. Anyone has thoughts on the game?

#Blessedmas My favorite channel to watch lately has been the Monterey Bay Aquarium, who you might remember from their Animal Crossing streams about the museum. I watch the penguin feeding every day, and also here's more penguin because penguin.

I caved on Grindstone. I'm looking for the same sort of "Way more fun than it has any right to be" color-matching goodness that I remember from Might & Magic: Clash of Heroes. It delivers! Trying to find the maximum possible streak is super satisfying.

I'm weirdly intrigued by Zero Escape Among Us. I have no idea what to expect, but those characters look...interesting. Apart from that, Amanita Games is always worth it, and I may get Grindstone soon as well.

#blessedmas

Legit Cyberpunk question before I just go back to posted blessed things; from all the reviews I've seen, is there anything Cyberpunk does that Deus Ex (and/or HR) hasn't already done? In terms of themes, gameplay, roleplaying? Because I'm not seeing it.

#blessedmas In between all the cyber punking and the smashing brothers and the games awarding and all that jazz, I would like to take a minute to appreciate that Spiritfarer came out this year and it was wonderful.

Today, I killed a bunch of monsters by hitting them with a walrus. Video games.